The present invention relates generally to the monitoring and/or controlling of a fiber of material such as a stream, bead, filament, strand, chord, thread, etc. More particularly the invention relates to the monitoring and/or controlling of the above materials where the material is moving or traveling in space in a moving path or pattern such as, for example, a rotating swirl pattern. The material may be either a solid or liquid such as, for example, metallic wire, fiberglass, filaments, adhesives, sealants, caulks, etc.
While not to be limited to, the present invention is especially useful for use in a controlled fiberization system. Controlled fiberization is a process for the application onto substrates of coating materials.
With controlled fiberization, a high viscosity material such as adhesive is dispensed in a continuous flowable stream or fiber, usually in the form of a swirling spiral pattern extending from a dispensing nozzle onto a substrate. The swirling movement of the pattern may be formed by ejecting the high viscosity material under pressure to form a continuous adhesive fiber which is then propelled to swirl into a rotating pattern, which moves toward the substrate, by streams of air. It is believed that the air streams, together with the forward momentum and centrifugal force of the ejected material, force the material into a rotating outwardly spiraling helical pattern in which its own cohesive and elastic properties hold it in a string-like or rope-like strand.
Controlled fiberization methods for the application of pressure sensitive adhesives and the devices using such methods are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,996 entitled ADHESIVE SPRAY GUN AND NOZZLE ATTACHMENT assigned to Nordson Corporation, Amherst, Ohio, the assignee of the present invention, and hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide coating material dispensing systems and processes, with monitoring capabilities that can accurately, quickly and economically determine the performance of the system components and of the adhesive application process.